Bringing home the beacons

Bringing home the

The wild and tempestuous seas around England’s south-western corner have seen many wrecks – hence the reason the rugged peninsula is dotted with lighthouses. Barbara Hackworthy and her biking pal Jo Corban, decided to string together a route of 14 of the iconic structures in May 2019 for an undulating 550 mile ride through landscape and history.

I’VE BEEN THINKING of doing a cycle tour to all the lighthouses in the south-west for a few years – and when my cycling buddy Jo expressed an interest in joining me I was galvanised into action.

I decided arbitrarily to only include working lighthouses on the mainland. Once I got into the planning it seemed reasonable to also include iconic lighthouse hotspots as well – like Smeatons Tower on Plymouth Hoe and Lands End with a view of Long Ships for example.

It’s always good to have a theme for a cycling adventure: it adds direction and purpose. I live in Dorset, and I’ve walked the South West Coast Path, and kayaked around the coast over the last 20 years or so. The sea kayaking took us out to places like Lundy Island and Long Ships off Lands End which were definitely not possible on the cycling tour.

A lighthouse is a structure, usually a tower or other type of structure, built as an aid to navigation for ships at sea. Their function is to provide a visible and, in poor visibility, audible warning against hazards such as rocks or reefs.

Today Trinity House maintains more than 60 lighthouses in England, Wales, the Channel Islands and Gibraltar. These highly visual aids to navigation range from isolated offshore towers like the Eddystone to shore-based locations like the Lizard. Today all the lighthouses are automated and their accommodation has been converted for use as holiday lettings.

I decided to start on the south coast with the lighthouse furthest to the east which is Anvil Point in Dorset. From there the route went to Portland Bill and then followed the coast through Devon and Cornwall all the way to Land’s End. From Land’s End the route went to St Ives and then followed the North Cornwall and Devon coast up to Lynmouth. The last lighthouse on the tour was Lynmouth Foreland.

The total distance planned was 900 kilometres (550 miles) but with more than 11,000 metres of climb (36,000 ft).

beacons

WORDS & PICTURES BARBARA HACKWORTHY

Anvil Point lighthouse, near Swanage, is east of where we live so I decided to do this section as a day ride and stay at home the first night. Our route took us from Swanage to Anvil Point through the Lulworth Ranges (open on a Sunday) and along the coast to Weymouth. We rode along Weymouth sea front and the Rodwell Trail to the causeway which took us out on to Portland and down to the lighthouse at Portland Bill.

The present lighthouse is the third to be built at Portland Bill. The two original lighthouses, now known as Old Higher Lighthouse and Old Lower Lighthouse, operated as a pair of leading lights to guide ships between Portland Race and the Shambles Sandbank. The present lighthouse was completed in 1916. It was de-manned in 1996 and control transferred to the Trinity House

Operations. From Portland Bill we rode back to

Bridport where we stayed overnight. The next day we set off heading down to the South West of England. We were each carting about 11kg of luggage, carried mainly in Ortileb panniers. Our route took us through

Exeter and down the River Exe to

Dawlish then along the coast to

Teignmouth. We dropped down to visit the lighthouse there, which is a grade II listed building. In the early 1840s Teignmouth Harbour Commissioners decided to erect a lighthouse as an aid to Portland Bill shipping, and a tower was built of blocks of local limestone during the years 1844 to 1845 with the light being shone for the first time in 1845. Today the lighthouse is kept clean and maintained by the Harbour Master. It shows a fixed red light visible for three miles, and when lined up with the leading light behind it, provides a safe passage across the sand bars at the mouth of the Teign. Our target destination for the day was Berry Head above Brixham where there is a vertically challenged lighthouse. Berry Head is reputedly the shortest lighthouse

Teignmouth Lighthouse

in Great Britain but also one of the highest. It is only five metres tall but 58 metres above sea level.

We camped at Berry Head and the next morning with fresh legs zipped over to Kingswear for the ferry across the River Dart to Dartmouth.

In my zealous effort to avoid riding on main roads we found ourselves on a hill too steep to ride which degenerated into a bridleway. So we had a longer walk than we would have liked. It would have been better to have taken the A379 out of the town. As it was we joined the A379 and followed it along the coast to

Slapton where we visited the

Exercise Tiger Memorial. From

Slapton we headed out to Start

Point. This lighthouse was built in 1836 to protect shipping off Start

Point in South Devon. For us it involved an undulating ride along narrow lanes. It was worth it as Start Point is exactly what you expect from a lighthouse – a tall white tower built on a rocky promontory with raging seas below. This being May, the wild thrift and bluebells were magnificent. The road through the South Hams to Plymouth is scenic and undulating. Audaxers will recognise these words as euphemisms for “very hilly”. We diverted to Plymouth Hoe where the centrepiece is

Smeaton’s Tower. The lighthouse was originally built on the

Eddystone reef in 1759. It was taken down in the 1810s when it was discovered the sea was undermining the rock it was standing on. The tower was dismantled and erected at Plymouth Hoe. It was a beautiful clear day and we were able to see the Eddystone

Lighthouse. The Eddystone is an extensive reef about 20km SSW off

Plymouth Sound and midway between Start Point and Lizard Point. The reef is submerged at high water springs and very much feared by mariners. The present lighthouse was built in 1882 and is still in use.

We cycled through Plymouth and along the Tamar to the Torpoint ferry where we crossed into Cornwall, and hugging the coast, to Looe. On this the Berry Head Lighthouse

Start Point Lighthouse

Smeaton’s Tower on Plymouth Hoe

Ready to go… Jo, left, and Barbara

St Antony’s Lighthouse Tater Du lighthouse

third day of the tour we’d now ridden more than 100km with over 2,000m of climbing so another pasty was called for to fuel the last 20km – with a monster hill – to Fowey.

We dropped very steeply down to Polruan to catch the ferry to Fowey. There were several steps down to the small boat and fortunately there were four strong men – two to each bike – to help us. We camped above Fowey at Penhale Farm

After a great night’s sleep we set off for our next lighthouse which was on the Roseland Peninsula. St Anthony’s lighthouse is at St Anthony’s Head on the eastern side of the entrance to Falmouth Harbour, one of the largest natural harbours in the world. We skirted around the Helford River and crossed it at Gweek before climbing on to the Lizard.

The name Lizard is probably a corruption of the Cornish name “Lys Ardh” meaning “high court”. It is a coincidence that much of the peninsula is composed of serpentinite bearing rock. We rode to the lighthouse – which has the brightest light of all and can be seen 100 miles away on a clear night.

Lizard Point beckoned to finish the job off and we were treated to some relaxation in the sun, watching the antics of seals surrounded by beautiful wild coastal flowers.

We cycled back up the Lizard to Helston and then continued to Mounts Bay and spent the night at Penzance Youth Hostel. We started the next day by riding along the coast through Newlyn. We paid our respects at the Penlee Lifeboat Station’s Solomon Browne Memorial.

Our first lighthouse of the day was Tater Du lighthouse – Cornwall’s most recently built lighthouse, constructed after the Juan Ferrer tragedy in 1963 on nearby Boscawen Point.

We were at Land’s End before 10am, when it officially opens, so it was mercifully quiet and free of tourists. We just rode out to the view point and took a picture as if we were “End to Enders”!

We waved at the Longships lighthouse which is situated two kilometres off shore but couldn’t get any closer on this occasion.

End to end pretenders

Longships Lighthouse

The next section of the tour from Sennen to St Ives is magnificent. The route follows the B3306 which has a couple of proper hills but the coastal scenery is fabulous throughout. The sea views are contrasted by the wild moor and heath inland. We diverted to Pendeen Watch Lighthouse.

We dropped down into St Ives for the sake of completeness and enjoyed the picturesque harbour and the historic Smeaton’s pier.

The Lizard lighthouse

Ready to go… Jo, left, and Barbara

Pendeen Watch Lighthouse

The next lighthouse on this stretch of coast is on Godrevy Island, so outside our remit. We continued our journey along the North Cornwall coast to Newquay and camped at Porth. Fresh legs were required for the scenic undulating B3276 to Trevose Head. This is a magnificent lighthouse – another tall tower on a rocky headland with beautiful wild flowers.

We continued to Padstow where we caught the ferry across the River Camel to

Rock. We were unlucky to miss the last ferry from the harbour and had to walk down to the Lower beach as the tide was rapidly ebbing. The ferry took us across the river but left us with a half mile walk along the beach to the slipway. Argh – it rained! So far we had enjoyed dry weather- quite chilly and breezy but no rain. We hastened to

Hartland Point which is in Devon. We’d already ridden 100km for the day but decided to continue towards

Bideford on the Torridge. The route was lovely and followed quiet lanes which undulated more gently as the streams became more organised towards the River Torridge. We dropped down into the Taw/ Torridge estuary area riding on the Tarka Trail and started to look for somewhere to eat and somewhere to stay. We couldn’t find anywhere and ended up camping unofficially at Velator Quay at Braunton.

I really wanted to find Crow Point lighthouse. Crow Point is a sandy beach backed by low dunes at the southern end of Braunton Burrows Nature

Reserve. The beach looks south-east across the River Taw and south west to

Appledore. The point is a sand spit formed near the confluence of the Taw and Torridge rivers. In reality it is little more than a finger of sand and mud protected by groynes. The solar powered Crow Point lighthouse, also called Braunton Sands, lighthouse lies at the southern extremity of the spit. It stands just 7.6 metres above high water. After visiting Crow Point we returned to the B3231 and detoured scenically around Saunton and Croyde. We continued to Mortehoe and then on the access road out to Bull Point lighthouse, which provides a visual aid to the villages of Mortehoe, Woolacombe and Ilfracombe and warns of the rocky coast in this area.

From Mortehoe we followed National Cycle Route 27. This was the easiest five kilometres of the tour. The route follows the London and South Western Railway

Hartland Point lighthouse

Ilfracombe branch line from Mortehoe and we freewheeled all the way. Bliss!

In Ilfracombe we dropped down to the harbour to see Verity, a stainless steel and bronze statue created by Damien Hirst which has been loaned to the town for 20 years. It depicts a pregnant woman holding aloft a sword while carrying the scales of justice and standing on a pile of law books. Half of the sculpture shows the internal anatomy of the pregnant woman with the foetus clearly visible.

We climbed out of Ilfracombe, dropped to sea level again at Hele, climbed again and dropped to sea level at Watermouth Castle, climbed again and dropped into Coombe Martin. From Coombe Martin to Lynmouth it is hilly. We could have made life a little easier for ourselves by going up to Blackmoor Gate and then on the A39 but we took the scenic route up Buzzacott Lane, then down to Trentishoe and down to the Hunters Inn. The climb out of the Hunters Inn was just too steep on our loaded touring bikes and we had to walk, but we were able enjoy the magnificent scenery of Woody Bay.

We continued up (again) past Lee Abbey Christian Retreat and on to the scenic Valley of the Rocks. The route climbed up out of the Valley of the Rocks to Lynton and then dropped steeply down again to sea level at Lynmouth.

Countisbury Hill out of Lynmouth was quite a challenge. We made it up to Foreland at an elevation of 300m. The last lighthouse, Lynmouth Foreland, was at sea level. Jo chose to ride all the way down to it – and back again. I didn’t!

It was a great tour. The way we did it in just six days carrying all our camping gear required a good level of fitness and an ability to ride with tired legs. We really enjoyed the ferries and the lighthouses – and the magnificent coastal scenery. May was a lovely time of year to ride as it is before the main holiday season so the roads were quiet and the wild flowers were at their best. We were lucky with the weather, which was mainly dry, cool and sunny.

Hirst’s Verity at Ilfracombe

Crow Point lighthouse

Valley of the Rocks

Bull Point lighthouse